Although the equalization of women’s and men’s earnings
proceeded slowly, the process accelerated after 1980. The
gap between the average earnings of white male workers
and black male workers also narrowed.

The ratio of female to male earnings moved upward during most of the century,
except for a moderate downturn from 1955 to 1980, when women were entering
the labor force in large numbers. After 1980, however, the equalization of
women’s and men’s earnings accelerated. Legislation mandating equal
employment
criteria and promotion opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and equal
access to occupational training, especially in privileged occupations, was
instrumental
in this change.

In 1997, the earnings of women working full-time year-round were equal to only
74 percent of the earnings of male full-time, year-round workers. This
comparison,
however, ignored large differences between the average qualifications of men
and women in the labor force. When women were compared with men of equivalent
education and work experience, much of this difference in earnings disappeared.
Among Americans aged twenty-seven to thirty-three, for example,
women who never had a child earned an average of 98 percent of men’s earnings.

Data on earnings by race for the early years of the century are not available, but
anecdotal evidence suggests that by 1940 the earnings gap between black and
white males had narrowed considerably. From 1940 to 1980, the ratio of black
male earnings to white male earnings increased substantially. There was a brief
decline around 1990, but by 1997, the earnings of black men working full-time,
year-round had climbed to 76 percent of the earnings of their white counterparts.

Some of the difference between the earnings of black and white males can be
traced to their levels of education. Although the difference in educational
achievement between black and white males was much smaller at the end of the
century than at midcentury, the education gap remained substantial. In 1998, 27
percent of white males, but only 14 percent of black males, had completed at
least four years of college.